Lickitung/RBY
Lickitung is obtained in Red and Blue by trading a Slowbro for it in the Route 18 gate, and will be obtained at the level of the Slowbro you traded for it. In Yellow, however, it is only obtainable in the postgame Cerulean Cave. "NO. STOP. WHAT ARE YOU DOING. GO AWAY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO USE THIS. GO GET A SNORLAX. OR A CLEFABLE. OR LITERALLY ANY OTHER NORMAL-TYPE AS LONG AS IT'S NOT. THIS. THING. STOP RIGHT NOW." -Xerxos, 2014, Lickitung's FRLG analysis Lickitung is a Normal-type Pokemon that can evolve into Lickilicky... and that's it. Although Lickilicky can be a little useful, this is Generation 1, where single-stage Pokemon roamed free without care of people changing them. One of those single-stage Pokemon is - you guessed it - Lickitung. Unfortunately, without its evolution, Lickitung becomes one of the most useless things you could ever get in a Nuzlocke, with essentially every other Normal-type outclassing it. Raticate has greater offensive strength, Porygon's Special can force many Pokemon to their knees... But by far, the greatest insult to Lickitung is the behemoth known as Snorlax, who has a BST 120 points higher than Lickitung. In fact, with Snorlax being essentially a guaranteed encounter, you have no excuse not to use Snorlax over Lickitung. But is it really as bad as it seems? Let's find out. Important Matchups * Gym #3 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Voltorb will be 2HKOed by Mega Kick, while it can't do very much to you except for SonicBoom. Mega Kick will OHKO Pikachu and Body Slam will 2HKO, making Pikachu very simple. Raichu is very dangerous, though. Your Mega Kick and its Thunderbolt will each cause a 3HKO, and, because Raichu outspeeds, you will die if it decides to spam the attack. * Gym #4 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Avoid Victreebel - Razor Leaf can 3HKO, and it knows Wrap. Tangela is a fairly safe fight - just watch out for Bind and you can 3HKO with Mega Kick. As for Vileplume, it will not go down easily. It can status you, heal with Mega Drain, and cause serious damage with Petal Dance, so it's best to stay away from it. * Gym #5 - Koga (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): The Koffing go down easily enough to Mega Kick - just watch that you don't get poisoned by their Sludge or have your accuracy cut through Smokescreen. Muk will be a difficult fight purely because of its Minimize, which will render your already-low accuracy Mega Kick nearly useless - its damaging Sludge is just icing on the cake. Furthermore, if you were weakened by these opposing Pokemon, then steer clear of Weezing - it knows Self-Destruct, which will take down half of your HP in one shot. * Fighting Dojo (Saffron City, Fighting-type): Hitmonlee will cause critically-high amounts of damage with its Fighting-type attacks, so avoid it. Hitmonchan, however, lacks Fighting moves. If you have enough health, Lickitung can endure its attacks well enough to 3HKO with Mega Kick. * Rival (Silph Co.): Pidgeot is, oddly enough, infinitely worse than Lickitung in this fight, with Lickitung being able to 4HKO with Body Slam, while Pidgeot's Quick Attack will only 8-10HKO. Exeggcute has no damaging moves, but don't be decieved - it can make you sleep, destroy your Attack stat with Reflect, and slowly sap your health with Leech Seed. Gyarados is considerably more dangerous, with Hydro Pump having a chance to 2HKO - avoid if possible. Growlithe can be 2HKOed with Surf, while it can barely touch you, so go wild. Alakazam will be 3HKOed by Body Slam, but remember - it knows infinite PP Recover, and it outspeeds, rendering this fight tricky. Fighting Charizard is dangerous - its Slash will 4HKO, while your Surf 3HKOs. Blastoise won't be able to hurt Lickitung very much, although Lickitung is only able to 5HKO with Body Slam in return. Be careful against Venusaur. It will 3HKO with Razor Leaf, in addition to being able to set up poison and Leech Seed. * Giovanni (Silph Co., Ground-type): Body Slam 3HKOs Nidorino, while it can barely touch you - go wild. Kangaskhan is a strange situation where you're just about evenly matched - Body Slam 4HKOs, but Kangaskhan outspeeds and can 5HKO with all of its attacks. Surf OHKOs Rhyhorn - murder that thing. Surf will also 3HKO Nidoqueen, while Nidoqueen can only 5-6HKO you, meaning you can take it down if you haven't received too much damage already. * Gym #6 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Kadabra outspeeds and 3HKOs with Psychic, while you 2HKO with Body Slam - fight at your own risk. Mr. Mime, like its design basis, is a joke - it can barely hurt you, while you can spam Body Slam. Body Slam will 3HKO Venomoth, while Psybeam won't do anywhere near that. Alakazam is a dangerous fight, though, and should be avoided. Both your own and its attacks will 3HKO, but Alakazam has an advantage through speed and infinite Recover spam. * Gym #7 - Blaine (Cinnabar Island, Fire-type): You used Surf to get here - take advantage of it. Growlithe gets 2HKOed, whereas it will barely hurt you. Ponyta is under the same situation, but watch out for Fire Spin hax. Rapidash is more dangerous - it also uses Fire Spin hax, with the added bonus of only being 3HKOed by Surf. Keep away from Arcanine. Its Fire Blast 3HKOs and it outspeeds. * Gym #8 - Giovanni (Viridian City, Ground-type): Rhyhorn will be OHKOed like last time with Surf. Continuing Surf will 2HKO Dugtrio, while it can barely hurt you - you're fine. Nidoqueen is as easy as last time - use Surf to 3HKO. Ditto for Nidoking - even its Thrash is easy enough to endure. Be cautious when battling Rhyhorn, however. Although your Surf 2HKOs, it outspeeds, and thanks to Fissure and Horn Drill's Gen 1 mechanics, you run the chance of seeing that soul-crushing "It's a one-hit KO!" message. * Rival (Route 22, pre-Elite Four): Your rival's Pidgeot is another situation where you're like "Lickitung can beat that?" Body Slam 4HKOs, while Pidgeot can barely 9HKO. Rhyhorn is as much of a joke as when you fought Giovanni. Exeggcute has a damaging move now, in the form of SolarBeam, being able to 3HKO. If you don't panic and remember its charge time, however, your Body Slam can 3-4HKO. Growlithe is another 2HKO with Surf. Gyarados is as dangerous, if not more, than before - Hydro Pump is a guaranteed 3HKO. Even more dangerous than Gyarados is Alakazam, with Psychic and that lovely Recover spam. Stay away from Charizard, as it can 3HKO with Flamethrower. Blastoise can also 3HKO with Hydro Pump, while it bulks most of your attacks. Venusaur will also 3HKO with Razor Leaf, so watch out for it as well. * Elite Four Lorelei (Indigo Plateau, Ice-type): Even with training yourself to equalize the rival's ace, you don't have too much offensive strength. Body Slam will 3HKO Dewgong, while Dewgong can 5HKO with Aurora Beam. Cloyster has enough bulk to endure 4 Body Slams, and it can Clamp you for negative results. Slowbro can use Withdraw to make your attacks ineffective. Jynx is actually a simple enough 'mon to fight, thanks to its frailty - you can 2HKO with Body Slam. Lapras is very dangerous, however. Blizzard and Hydro Pump will 3HKO you without problem. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): Both of Bruno's Onix are jokes - Surf will OHKO either of them. Spam Surf against Hitmonchan to negate its Counter's effectiveness, while bulking the rest of its attacks. Stay wary of Hitmonlee's Jump Kick and Hi Jump Kick - both will 3HKO, while there is minimal risk to Hitmonlee himself thanks to the useless side effect of 1 HP of damage upon miss. Stay away from Machamp. Submission 2HKOs, and even if it doesn't use that, its Fissure has a chance to OHKO. * Elite Four Agatha (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Oh, Arceus, this fight... Haunter and Gengar will tank every single one of your attacks. Let someone else take on Agatha. * Elite Four Lance (Indigo Plateau, Dragon-type): Gyarados will 3HKO with Hydro Pump, making it dangerous. The Dragonair are safe enough to fight, as their Hyper Beams are their best attacks but can still only 4HKO, while your Body Slam will 3HKO each. Surf will 2-3HKO Aerodactyl, while its own attacks, save for Hyper Beam, will only 6-7HKO. Dragonite is essentially a mirror match, except it outspeeds. Avoid it. * Champion Rival (Indigo Plateau): Here we go, now Pidgeot's buffed itself. Sky Attack will do some heavy damage, and it can Mirror Move one of your stronger attacks, such as Body Slam, so take caution. Alakazam is still dangerous with its 3HKO Psychic and its infiniRecover. Surf has a chance to OHKO his Rhydon, but be careful - it outspeeds and knows Horn Drill. Just like Lance's Gyarados, your rival's is just as dangerous, so keep away. Exeggutor would be a joke if it wasn't for Hypnosis. If you're confident, use Body Slam to 5HKO. Arcanine knows Ember for some reason, so spam Surf and watch out for Take Down, which 5HKOs. Charizard will screw you up with Fire Blast and Fire Spin hax - keep away. You can barely touch Blastoise without taking a 3HKO Hydro Pump to the face, so keep away from it as well. Venusaur's Razor Leaf will also shred you in 3 hits, so keep away. * Post-Game: I applaud you for bringing something like Lickitung to Mewtwo, but Mewtwo's Psychic will 2HKO it. It's time to let it rest. Moves Giving Lickitung some credit, its movepool is actually not very bad. Although Slowbro evolve at Level 37, it is possible to find wild ones on Route 23 through Super Rod fishing - just note that getting one requires all Gym Badges up to the Soul Badge. Trading one of these Level 23 Slowbro for Lickitung will have its starting moveset be Supersonic, Stomp, Disable, and Defense Curl. Unfortunately, at this level, it just barely misses out on the one move that could make it an actual threat - Wrap. At level 31 it learns Slam and at level 39 it learns Screech. And that's really it for leveling up. Its true moveset capabilities, though, come from TMs, as Lickitung learns a very decent amount of them. For STAB, you could teach it Mega Punch, Body Slam or Mega Kick, all three of which are infinitely better than Slam, as well as Hyper Beam, although that would do much better on something like Snorlax. Something that Snorlax can't do, though, is use Swords Dance, making Lickitung one of the few useful users of it (in Generation 1, at least), alongside Scyther, Kabutops, and Farfetch'd. Taking advantage of its Special stat (which is ever-so-slightly higher than its Attack), you can give it Thunderbolt and Ice Beam (although they would be better on something like Porygon). For stalling, Lickitung's HP can take some advantage of Substitute, which is renewable thanks to the Game Corner, and Toxic, which, unfortunately, is also under stall-competition from another powerful Normal-type (see: Snorlax). It can also learn a few HMs, with Cut, Strength, and Surf in a potential arsenal. Recommended movesets: * STAB Offense: Body Slam / Mega Punch / Mega Kick, Strength / Hyper Beam, Screech / Swords Dance, Disable / Defense Curl * Staller: Toxic, Substitute, Stomp / Body Slam, Supersonic / Screech * Quasi-HM Slave: Strength, Surf, Cut / Disable, one filler move * The Han Solo Special: Body Slam, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Surf Recommended Teammates * Heavy Hitters: Let's face it - if there's one thing that Lickitung can't do, it's hit with a lot of damage. The only real chance it has of OHKOing anything is when it uses Surf on something like Onix or Rhydon. This is why your Lickitung will need something that can deal heavy damage to support it. Your powerhouse will be able to either weaken or OHKO potentially deadly targets that Lickitung wouldn't be able to take on by itself. In return, if things start to go south for your powerhouse, simply switch in Lickitung to clean up the mess while tanking blows. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Alakazam, Machamp, Primeape, Poliwrath, Dodrio, Tauros, Gyarados, Dragonite * Offensive Fire-types: One of Lickitung's best attacks is Surf. If you're not running an all-STAB set, Surf is a necessity, as Lickitung, even with less-than-impressive Special stats, can still cause some pain to Rock, Ground, and Fire-types. Furthermore, most of the Grass-types in this generation are defense or bulk-oriented, so if Lickitung runs into a bulky Grass-type, such as Vileplume or your rival's Venusaur, usage of a powerful Fire-type can easily cover for Lickitung's inability to hit hard otherwise. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Charizard, Rapidash, Magmar, Arcanine * Bulky Poison-types: Lickitung is bulky, but Fighting-types still laugh in its face. Then they proceed to punch it. However, switching out Lickitung into a Poison-type Pokemon could provide some security for your tongueman. Furthermore, Lickitung can counter any super-effective Ground-type Pokemon using Surf, creating a fairly effective symbiotic relationship to those that aren't dual-typed Grass or Water. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Gengar, Muk, Venusaur, Tentacruel, Weezing * Status Users: Even though Lickitung is an effective Toxic user, the scarcity of the TM means that it is under heavy competition. Thus, pairing Lickitung with another user of status moves, particularly Toxic, would not be a bad idea. Furthermore, a combination of another Pokemon's Leech Seed in conjunction with Lickitung could allow for an effective stall tactic, through the constant regeneration of Lickitung's high HP stat. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Venusaur, Exeggutor, Clefable, Slowbro Other Lickitung's stats * How good is Lickitung in a Nuzlocke? I had my doubts when starting this review, I admit... However, in Generation 1 at least, Lickitung is not totally useless. It plays the bulky teammate role well, and has a surprisingly versatile movepool for a fat sack of pink. The reason it's being placed so low, however, is not because it's purely bad - it's because other Pokemon play its roles better (see: Snorlax). Furthermore, it's a hassle to get - you're trading Slowbro, arguably a much better Pokemon, for this thing that could be replaced by a Snorlax. It's unfortunate, honestly. In another generation, it could have been considered... decent. * Weaknesses: Fighting * Resistances: None * Immunities: Ghost * Neutralities: Normal, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon Category:Red/Blue/Yellow Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses